The outsider
by Colin Wilson · first published 1956
82% recommend9% neutral9% critical
Why HN recommends it
Examines outsiders across literature, philosophy and history, exploring what makes such figures who they are. Well suited to readers drawn to existentialism, alienation and the mad-genius theme.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The Outsider is a non-fiction book by Colin Wilson first published in 1956. Through the works and lives of various artists - including H. G. Wells (Mind at the End of its Tether), Franz Kafka, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, T. S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, Harley Granville-Barker (The Secret Life), Herman Hesse, T. E. Lawrence, Vincent Van Gogh, Vaslav Nijinsky, George Bernard Shaw, William Blake, Friedrich Nietzsche, Fyodor Dostoevsky and G. I. Gurdjieff - Wilson explores the psyche of the Outsider, his effect on society, and society's effect on him.
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Hunger by Knut Hamsun, Wait Until Spring by John Fante, Post Office by Charles Bukowski, The Horse's Mouth by Joyce Cary, The Outsider by Colin Wilson, The Price of Greatness by Arnold M. Ludwig, Touched With Fire by Kay Redfield Jamison Just off the top of my head without any ordering.
on “Ask HN: Books That Should Be Read” ↗…imagining. But great ones aren't. Go read: Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament by Kay Redfield Jamison http://www.amazon.com/Touched-With-Fire-ebook/dp/B001D1YCM2 The Outsider by Colin Wilson http://www.amazon.com/The-Outsider-Colin-Wilson/dp/087477206... The Price of Greatness: Resolving the Creativity and Madness Controversy by Arnold M. Ludwig http://www.amazon.com/The-Price-Greatness-Creativity-Controv...…
on “You are not Steve Jobs” ↗…and Goldmund and Steppenwolfe by Herman Hesse to be on the same lines (deal with existentialism). If you enjoyed both Dostoyevsky, existentialism, and Hesse's work, you will like Colin Wilson's "The Outsider": https://www.amazon.com/Outsider-Exploration-Rebellion-Creati... which deals with both (and more) and expands on these concepts. Wilson ended up doing more fringe work, but this was his critically…
on ““The Idiot” Savant: On Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Idiot” ↗Anyone interested in outsiders would do well to read Colin Wilson's "The Outsider".[1] It's a fascinating study of outsiders in literature, philosophy, and history, and an exploration of what makes them who they are. More recently,…
on “The Outsider's Guide to the Social World” ↗…horses https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/all-kings-horses The Sorrows of Young Werther https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther The Catcher in the Rye https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye The Outsider https://www.amazon.com/Outsider-Colin-Wilson/dp/0874772060 Meetings With Remarkable Men https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3064956-meetings-with-re... On the road https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Road…
on “Who is the real Dice Man? The elusive writer behind a cult novel” ↗The Outsider by Colin Wilson. It turned me on to all sorts of interesting authors that I may otherwise have never read, or read much later than I did after being exposed to Wilson's compelling writing on them. Anyone…
on “Ask HN: Are there any books that changed your life during college or school?” ↗The Outsider by Colin Wilson validated a lot of the doubts I’ve had my entire life and showed me a courageous way forward embracing my nature. This is a recommendation that applies to very few people but the misfits,…
on “Ask HN: What were the best books you read in 2025?” ↗…Happiness, which meant that he was trying to solve the puzzle for himself and dedicated great energy in that pursuit. The other book that captures the life of the tortured geniuses is Colin Wilson's The Outsider, which does a fantastic study of artists like Camus, Sartre, Van Gogh, Hesse and many more. He quotes from Bernard Shaw's play "John Bull's Other Island", which for me captures the essence of the depressed…
on “Can a Wandering Mind Make You Neurotic?” ↗You might be interested in Colin Wilson's book "The Outsider"[1], which was written more than 30 years before the essay you quote. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outsider_(Colin_Wilson)
on “My IQ” ↗…our internal monologue which is the biggest agent of human misery. The trope of the mad genius is true - there are three great books that touches on this subject: Hesse's Steppenwolf, Colin Wilson's The Outsider, and the amazing Logicomix. Also a recent research surfaced on HN on neuroticism and the dangers of self-generated thoughts - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661315.... There is…
on “Boredom is not a problem to be solved, it's the privilege of a free mind” ↗…Wilson. He was a great synthesizer of knowledge. His books contain a wealth of ideas, and have introduced me to many authors and thinkers who I may have otherwise missed. I definitely recommend "The Outsider" to anyone interested in philosophy in general and Existentialism in particular.
on “Colin Wilson, overpriced at nothing” ↗…Sarah - Fingersmith Waugh, Evelyn - Vile Bodies Weschler, Lawrence - Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonders West, Nathanael - Day Of The Locust, The White, Charles - Life And Times Of Little Richard, The Wilson, Colin - Outsider, The Wolf, Christa - Quest For Christa T, The Wright, Richard - Black Boy Yokoo, Tadanori - Tadanori Yokoo Zinn, Howard - A People’s History Of The United States
on “David Bowie’s Top 100 Books (2013)” ↗…lunch. "Angel Tech" by Antero Alli for it's devastating analysis of what makes people tick, and how to rework your own clockwork. Owes more to improv theatre than shamanism, regardless of its name. "The Outsider" by Colin Wilson. This book has aged strangely, and it's up to you if he's describing adolescence or asberger's syndrome, but you can't get your head around social difference through the ages in an easier…
on “Ask HN: Best personal development and productivity books” ↗…Wilson - Biophilia - Will Durant - The Lessons Of History - Freeman J. Dyson - A Many-Colored Glass - Venkatesh Rao - The Gervais Principle - Ray Bradbury - The Martian Chronicles - Colin Wilson - The Outsider - Stanislaw Lem - Cyberiad - Chaos Monkeys - Antonio Martinez - Ben Horowitz - What You Do Is Who You Are - Alice Flaherty - The Midnight Disease - Oliver Sacks - Musicophilia - Ken Binmore - Rational…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023” ↗I'm not much of a fan of Wilson (have only read 3 of his books, Outsider included). But this is an unbearable, typically provincial, English critique of his work, complete with class-based explanations and snobbery, attacks on him being an autodidact and so on.
on “Colin Wilson, overpriced at nothing” ↗